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REPORT  OF 

CHARLES  MULFORD  ROBINSON 

WITH  REGARD  TO 

CIVIC  AFFAIRS 

IN  THE 

City  of  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa 

WITH  RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  CITY  IMPROVEMENT 
AND  BEAUTIFICATION 


THE  TORCH  PRESS 

Cedar  Rapids 

1908 


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V' 


fVERSi 


Report  of 
Charles  Mulford  Robinson 


To  the  Honorable  Mayor  and  Cify  Council,  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa: 


Gentlemen — It  is  interesting  that  one 
of  the  earliest  acts  of  the  first  commis- 
sion government  of  Cedar  Rapids 
should  be  the  engagement  of  an  out- 
side adviser,  to  make  a  comprehensive 
survey  of  the  city  and  to  report  on  its 
improvement  possibilities.  The  cir- 
cumstance, sufficiently  significant  in 
itself,  Js  made  still  more  so  by  the  high 
quality  of  the  new  government's  per- 
sonnel. For  to  a  remarkable  degree — if  I 
may  quote  the  sentiment  generally  ex- 
pressed to  me  in  Cedar  Rapids — its 
members  unite  high  civic  spirit  and 
ideals  to  a  long  practical  experience. 
The  action,  which  in  the  abstract  was 
thus  significant  and  interesting,  has 
been  naturally  to  the  adviser  himself  a 
strong  incentive.  With  very  particular 
interest,  therefore,  I  have  the  honor  to 
report  the  following  observations  and 
recommendations : 

Cedar  Rapids  is  in  some  respects  pe- 
culiarly conditioned.  No  one  can  visit 
it  for  even  a  day  without  being  im- 
pressed by  five  distinct  and  pleasant 
municipal  characteristics:  These  are, 
(1)  its  generally  neat  and  orderly  ap- 
pearance, a  feature  so  marked  and  indi- 
vidual as  to  have  given  to  it  through- 
out the  state  the  sobriquet  of  "the  par- 
lor city;"  (2)  the  amount  of  perma- 
nent improvements,  in  pavements, 
curbs,  sidewalks,  etc.,  in  proportion  to 
the  city's  size;  (3)  the  breadth  of  the 
streets,  their  wide  side  parking  be- 
tween curb  and  walk  and  the  size  and 
beauty  of  the  trees,  so  that  Cedar  Rap- 
ids seems  like  a  bit  of  New  England 
transported  to  Iowa;  (4)  the  beauty 
of  the  surrounding  country  and  of  the 
river,    which   bi- sects    the    city;      and, 


(5),  the  rapidity,  substantial  character, 
and  geographical  evenness  of  the  city's 
growth,  such  that  no  section  is  being 
built  up  at  the  expense  of  another  por- 
tion. There  are  various  other  matters 
which  the  trained  observer  will  quick- 
ly note — such,  for  example,  as  the  ex- 
cellent distribution  of  its  several  park 
tracts  and  that  the  area  of  these — 
though  by  no  means  generous — seems 
to  be  all  that  the  city  is  at  present  will- 
ing to  take  care  of. 

Obviously,  one  who  is  to  suggest  how 
the  city  can  be  improved  is  pulled  two 
ways:  He  may  be  discouraged,  be- 
cause so  much  has  already  been  done; 
he  may  be  encouraged,  because  with  so 
good  a  start  yet  better  achievements 
can  be  looked  for.  But  the  growing 
population  of  the  city  is  the  vital  fac- 
tor. That  imposes  an  obligation  to 
plan,  while  there  yet  is  time,  for  Cedar 
Rapids'  greater  future;  and  it  gives  the 
courage  to  plan  well,  by  its  assurance 
of  steadily  increasing  resources.  The 
citizens  who  venture  now  to  plan  on 
broad  lines  for  the  city  that  will  be 
here  in  ten  or  fifteen  years,  have  not 
need  to  be  nearly  as  brave  as  were  their 
forefathers,  who  so  splendidly  laid  out 
the  city.  If  today's  citizens  show 
themselves  at  all  worthy  successors  of 
the  pioneers,  much  will  certainly  be 
done. 

I  conceive  it,  therefore,  to  be  my  duty 
not  only  to  make  suggestions  for  im- 
proving the  Cedar  Rapids  of  today; 
but  to  look  ahead  and  plan  for  the  bet- 
ter, the  more  beautiful,  and  stronger 
Cedar  Rapids  of  tomorrow.  In  so  do- 
ing I  shall  divide  my  discussion  into 
three  parts,  considering:  A.  Changes  in 
the  street  plan;  B.  Additional  parks  and 
park  connections;  C.  Local  improve- 
ments and  corrections.  As  the  divi- 
sions ar3  arbitrary,  there  must  natural- 
ly be  some  overlapping  of  subjects. 


i  Q  O  O  fl  O 


A. — Changes  in   the   Street   Plan. 

The  appended  print  illustrates  to 
how  remarkable  a  degree  Cedar  Rap- 
ids is  now  a  focus  in  its  relation  to  the 
country  around  it.  Highways  con- 
verge to  the  city  from  all  directions, 
like  the  spokes  to  the  hub  of  a  wheel. 
This  is  a  desirable  condition,  which  is 
usuallj'-  one  of  the  first  and  most  cost- 
ly improvements  that  must  be  ar- 
ranged for  in  the  scientific  replanning 
of  cities.  But  if  Cedar  Rapids  is  fortun- 
ate in  this  respect,  it  is  less  fortunate 
in  the  possession  of  belting  highways 
to  connect  these  radials.  While  the 
bulk  of  the  travel  must  always  be  into 
the  center  and  out  again,  there  should 
be  provision  for  convenient  passage 
from  quadrant  to  quadrant.  Further, 
the  radials  tend  to  stop  too  soon  in 
their  convergence. 

To  correct  these  shortcomings  in 
the  street  plan,  with  a  view  to  future 
as  well  as  to  present  convenience,  I 
would  urge — beginning  with  the  north 
— that  a  highway  be  platted  from  the 
Kenwood  Park  region  to  the  river, 
reaching  the  latter  at  about  the  point 
where  McLeod's  Run  empties  into  the 
Cedar,  and  then  that  a  bridge  be  con- 
structed over  the  river  from  this  point 
to  North  Seventh  street  west.  The 
platting  of  such  a  highway  does  not 
necessarily  mean  its  immediate  con- 
struction. But  if  it  be  laid  down,  and 
entered  on  the  official  maps,  there  will 
be  assurance  that  when  that  section  is 
developed — and  here  and  there  devel- 
opment is  already  taking  place  in  it — 
the  city  will  obtain  this  exceedingly 
important  direct  connection,  which 
otherwise  it  is  not  likely  to  have.  For, 
ob.serve,  northwest  of  the  Milwaukee 
tracks,  every  street  that  is  now  itiid 
out  is  on  a  north  and  south  axis — to 
which  this  would  be  diagonal.  Even 
now  it  would  have  great  value.  It 
would  pass,  on  its  way  from  the  Ken- 
wood section,  the  Sacred  Heart  acad- 
emy, the  upper  end  of  Daniels  park, 
and  would  cross  two  important  radials. 
Center  Point  road  and  North  Twelfth 
street;  in  its  upper  section  it  would  tra- 
verse a  beautiful  country  with  far  views 
and  in  its  lower  would  follow  a  love- 
ly stream.  To  a  growing  section  on  the 
west  side  of  the  river,  its  crossing 
would  not  only  halve  the  distance  to 
an  important  residential  section  on  the 
east  side,  but  would  save  the  necessity 
of  going  through  the  center  of  the  city. 
In  fact,  its  function  to  the  sections  up 
the  riv3r  would  be  similar  to  that  of 
the  Sixteenth  avenue  bridge  to  those 
down  the  river.  It  would  be  enough 
perhaps,  for  the  present,  to  construct 
the  highway  only  from  Twenty-seventh 
street,  or  from  Twenty-ninth  or  Thirti- 
eth, (according  as  the  new  bridge  over 
Indian  creek  is  located  on  one  or  other 


of  the  latter).  Constructed  only  so  far, 
it  would  form  the  chord  of  the  arc 
made  by  the  boulevard.  Of  its  value  for 
pleasure  driving  I  shall  elsewhere 
speak. 

A  north  and  south  street — at  least 
one — from  the  north  city  line  to  about 
the  junction  of  Nineteenth  street  and 
B  or  First  or  Third  avenue,  is  a  need 
so  obvious  as  probably  to  be  met  with- 
out my  suggestion.  It  would  s,ubsti- 
tute  a  short  cut  for  the  long  curve  now 
made  by  First  avenue  and  its  paral- 
lels. If  carried  through  to  Third  ave- 
nue, the  north  and  south  portion  of 
present  Nineteenth  street  would  con- 
tinue it  to  Mt.  Vernon  road,  so  very 
greatly  increasing  its  value,  and  the 
Third  avenue  and  Thirtieth  street  in- 
tersections would  be  so  important  as  to 
invite  Rond   Points. 

The  westward  extension  of  one  or 
more  of  the  important  east  and  west 
streets — as  Grand  avenue,  Bever  ave- 
nue, or  Mt.  Vernon  road — so  that  in- 
stead of  stopping  at  Third  avenue  the 
first  two  should  continue  to  First  ave- 
nue, and  that  Mt.  Vernon  road  should 
go  clear  through  to  Greene  Square — 
will  probably  not  be  thought  of  now, 
owing  to  an  expense  that  will  seem 
prohibitive.  But  there  is  much  to  be 
said  in  favor  of  such  action;  and  in 
the  case  of  the  minor  parallels,  as — 
for  example — Fifth  avenue,  which 
make  the  entrance  to  properties  now 
being  expensively  opened,  an  exten- 
sion in  a  straight  west  line  from  Four- 
teenth street,  until  they  actually  ap- 
proach the  business  section,  would 
mean  so  much  to  those  properties — 
moving  them  in  effect  much  closer  to 
town  by  shortening  the  distance  thith- 
er— that  the  change  deserves  serious 
consideration.  The  owners  of  the  out- 
lying prc>perty  that  would  be  thus  ben- 
efited cculd  afford,  by  assessment,  or 
voluntarily,  to  make  substantial  con- 
tribution to  the  cost  of  the  extension. 
And  in  the  cases  of  the  other  streets, 
where  the  changes  may  now  be  out  of 
the  question,  it  is  well  to  have  them  in 
mind,  should  fire  ever  clear  the  ground. 

On  the  west  side,  the  high  ground 
that  forms  a  ridge  paralleling  the  riv- 
er at  a  varying  distance,  which  never 
exceeds  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
and  which  up  stream  is  even  less,  ex- 
cuses the  lack  of  a  diagonal  to  the 
northwest.  It  is  a  pity  that  originally 
a  street  was  not  platted  to  run  direct- 
ly south  from  Third  avenue  west  at  the 
bridge — as  it  would  have  offered  a 
short-cut  diagonal  to  a  large  section — ■ 
but  the  need  for  it  is  not  so  great  as  to 
justify  the  very  large  cost  which  its 
construction  through  built  up  proper- 
ty would  now  involve.  But  South 
Ninth  street  west  ought  to  be  carried 
through  to  First  avenue  west.  This 
distance  is  only  two  blocks  and  a  half, 


including  the  two  public  alleys  it 
would  cross,  and  the  property  is  inex- 
pensive. There  is  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  with  the  growth  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  city,  this  long  eighty-foot 
street  would  become,  if  carried  to  First, 
a  very  important  artery.  At  least  one 
north  and  south  street  below  Fifth  ave- 
nue should  carry  through  to  the  main 
business  street,  and  Ninth  is  the  one  to 
which  such  extension  can  now  be  made 
at  least  expense. 

These  are  few  changes,  indeed,  to 
enhance  the  convenience  of  the  street 
plan  of  a  growing  city.  They  are  so 
few  that  there  ought  to  be  no  hesita- 
tion in  carrying  them  out — in  platting 
the  long  street  from  Kenwood  Park  to 
the  river  at  McLeod's  Run,  in  platting 
the  north  and  south  thoroughfare  from 
the  north  city  line  to  Third  avenue  at 
Nineteenth  street,  in  extending  Fifth, 
or  some  parallel  avenue,  in  a  straight 
line  westwardly  from  Fourteenth 
street,  and  in  carrying  South  Ninth 
street  west,  or  a  street  that  is  parallel 
to  it,  north  to  First  avenue  west.  Not 
one  of  these  changes  but  would  confer 
great  local  benefit,  facilitating  traffic 
and  adding  to  the  convenience  of  the 
whole  community;  all  of  them  com- 
bined would  far  better  knit  together 
the  street  framework,  or  skeleton,  of 
Cedar  Rapids,  and  give  to  it  a  struc- 
ture very  compact  and  interesting.  Yet 
few  as  the  changes  are,  I  shall  urge  no 
others  save  some  that  are  strictly 
parkway  propositions.  That  with  such 
slight  amendments  the  city's  street 
plan  can  be  considered  scientifically 
satisfactory,  even  when  looking  into 
that  future  which  we  may  confidently 
predict  for  Cedar  Rapids,  is  certainly 
high  praise  for  the  city's  present  plan. 
Befo-e  leaving  this  suDject  of  the 
street  p'an,  I  must  say  a  word  about 
the  several  residential  additions  that 
are  being  platted  at  large  cost  and 
with  rare  good  taste.  These,  for  the 
most  part  lying  east  of  Nineteenth 
street,  are,  with  winding  roads  or  gen- 
erous parkingreservations,  securing  the 
maximum  of  artistic  benefit  from  a 
gently  rolling  and  occasionally  wooded 
country.  In  so  doing  they  are  setting  a 
high  standard  for  the  development  of 
outlying  residential  areas,  not  in  Ce- 
dar Rapids  alone,  but  in  many  cities. 
They  are  destined,  if  meeting  the  suc- 
cess anticipated,  to  make  large  con- 
tribution to  the  justice  of  the  claim 
which  Cedar  Rapids  ought  soon  to  be 
able  to  put  forth,  as  "the  home-city 
beautiful" — one  of  the  noblest  descrip- 
tions that  could  be  given  to  a  com- 
munity. But  there  is  this  word  of 
caution  to  be  uttered:  The  absurdity 
of  building  a  city  a  street  at  a  time, 
without  comprehensive  scheme,  has 
come  to  be  recognized.  The  upbuilding 
of   a   city  tract  by  tract   is   very   little 


better.  Unless  there  is  given  to  the 
subject  of  properly  connecting  these 
tracts  with  the  existing  street  system, 
of  tying  them  to  one  another  and  into 
the  present  city  plan,  that  same  intelli- 
gent and  careful  thought  which  is  be- 
ing put  into  the  subject  of  their  in- 
terior development,  they  will  be  al- 
ways isolated  areas,  lacking  civic  con- 
sequence and  shorn  of  much  of  their 
possible  usefulness.  The  street  exten- 
sions which  I  have  proposed  would  do 
much  to  give  to  these  additions  dignity, 
inevitableness  and  municipal  unity. 

Changes  in  the  development  and 
treatment  of  existing  streets,  I  shall 
discuss  in  section  C. 

B. — Additional     Parks    and     Park    Con- 
nections. 

I  come  now  to  a  section  of  my  re- 
port which  has  particularly  to  do  with 
a  city's  claims  to  beauty.  I  will  not 
say  that  it  is  the  most  important  sec- 
tion, for  I  am  unwilling  to  admit  that 
any  part  is  less  important  than  an- 
otlier;  but  it  is  one  of  which  the  pur- 
pose is  so  markedly  aesthetic  that,  as 
this  phase  of  the  city's  development 
particularly  succeeds  or  fails,  a  city's 
attractiveness  of  aspect  and  social  ser- 
vice are  judged  particularly  to  succeed 
or  fail. 

The  parks  are  now  Cedar  Rapids' 
weakest  point.  Yet  in  the  considerable 
area  possessed,  in  their  excellent  dis- 
tribution, and  in  the  natural  topo- 
graphical advantages  of  the  city's  site, 
opportunities  are  offered  for  the  cre- 
ation, at  amazingly  low  cost,  of  a  park 
system  that  would  make  the  city  fam- 
ous and  that — a  matter  of  much  more 
importance — would  add  immensely  to 
the  pleasure  of  the  citizens  who  are 
here  today;  and  so  by  attractiveness 
for  residence  draw  many  others  to  it. 

Discussion  of  landscape  effects  and 
park  developing  on  the  present  tracts 
I  shall  reserve  for  section  C.  Here 
I  have  only  to  point  out  the  complete 
lack  of  anything  like  a  park  system, 
and  the  need  of  rounding  out  and  add- 
ing slightly  to  the  reservations  now 
possessed.  For  such  large  opportuni- 
ties as  those  possessed  by  Cedar  Rap- 
ids involve  large  obligation;  and  as  to 
a  park  system,  it  is  clear  that  isolated 
tracts  here  and  there,  unrelated  and 
unconnected  save  as  one  journeys  tor- 
tuously through  many  miles  of  city 
streets,  do  not  constitute  "a  system." 

Of  the  parks  of  Cedar  Rapids,  the 
three  largest — Bever,  Ellis  and  Daniels 
— are  on  the  outer  circumference  of  the 
city.  Their  location  is  east,  north  and 
northwest,  while  to  the  southwest  is 
Riverside  park,  and  in  the  center  are 
Greene  Square  and  Whittam  park.  All 
of  the  parks  are  wholly,  and  com- 
mendably,  what  are  called  people's 
parks.    "Thus,  the  several  tracts  are  too 


small  to  offer  invitation  to  driving,  for 
where  there  is  room  to  drive  at  all, 
nearly  all  the  drive  must  be  in  getting 
to  the  park  and  back,  and,  except 
through  a  portion  of  Grand  avenue,  of 
which  the  wild  beauty  will  soon  be  lost 
— this  drive  is  not  particularly  attract- 
ive. How  to  connect  the  parks,  then, 
with  one  another  and  with  the  city,  and  ' 
to  do  this  with  parkways,  that  are  real- 
ly thin  strips  of  park,  may  properly  be  ^ 
1  first  inouiry;  and  it  should  be  pointed 
out,  with  regard  to  this  subject,  that  a 
beautiful  drive  is  not  for  the  rich  alone. 
In  these  days  everybody,  except  the 
very  poorest,  have  a  chance  to  ride 
once  in  a  while;  and  even  if  the  park- 
ways could  be  used  only  by  the  well- 
to-do,  there  may  be  reflection  that  they 
too  deserve  to  have  a  little  done  for 
them,  not  only  because  they  happen  to 
pay  the  bulk  of  the  taxes,  but  because 
thev   are    citizens.  * 

Starting,  then,  with  Bever  park,  as 
the  mo.?t  visited  of  all  the  parks,  I  rec- 
ommend the  use  of  its  east  drive,  to 
the  northeast  corner.  Then  the  con- 
struction of  a  new  drive,  leading  out 
of  the  park  at  this  point  and  following 
the  course  of  a  stream  northeastward 
a  distance  of  possibly  a  thousand  feet. 
This  is  in  a  gully  at  practically  level 
grade.  After  two  crossings  of  the 
stream,  the  road  should  climb  the  hill 
— a  slignt  natural  defile  making  this  no 
very  dirticult  matter — and  strike  Twen- 
ty-first street  at  a  right  angle.  At  this 
summit  point  a  marvelous  view  sud- 
denly opens.  The  land  drops  away 
precipitously  all  around.  Below,  at 
one's  feet  are  the  Indian  creek  bottoms. 
A  part  of  the  Country  club  golf  course, 
where  was  the  old  rifle  range,  is  spread 
out  like  a  green  carpet.  Far  away  are 
blue  hills  and  purple  hills.  There  is  a 
grandeur  about  the  prospect  and  a 
thrill  about  its  suddenness  that  I  found 
nowhere  else  among  all  the  charming 
and  lovely  views  with  which  Cedar 
Rapids  is  surrounded.  From  the  sum- 
mit a  road  has  been  already  crudely 
graded  down  the  hill,  continuing  in  a 
straight  line  the  direction  taken  when 
the  stream  had  been  crossed  after 
leaving  the  park.  And  this  road  brings 
one  to  the  corner  of  the  Country  club 
grounds,  whence  there  is  a  choice  of 
attractive  routes  to  Twenty-seventh  or 
Twenty-fourth  street,  and,  as  I  under- 
stand, no  difficulty  about  obtaining  a 
right-of-way. 

We  have  at  once  a,  summer  even- 
ing's drive  in  the  short  but  very  beau- 

*  Since  Mr.  Robinson's  visit  Fifth 
avenue  has  been  extended  diagonally 
from  its  former  terminus  in  Vernon 
Heights  to  Bever  avenue,  near  the  en- 
trance to  Bever  park.  Thus,  to  another 
section  of  the  city.  Fifth  avenue  will 
offer  a  convenient  link  in  the  loop. 


tiful  circuit  that  would  thus  be  open- 
ed— Grand  avenue,  for  example,  to  Be- 
ver park,  through  the  park,  through  the 
proposed  new  drive  to  the  Country 
club,  and  back  by  the  boulevard.  It 
would  mean  the  construction  of  only  a 
little  strftch  of  road — of  some  conven- 
ience and  of  great  beauty. 

Of  the  character  of  this  road,  a  word 
should  be  said.  It  may  be  criticised  as 
not  the  shortest  distance  between  the 
park  and  club  and  as  having  a,  grade 
which,  as  compared  to  streets,  is 
relatively  heavy.  But  its  pur- 
pose is  a  pleasure  drive.  As 
such  a  few  moments'  extra 
tinrie  is  no  objection,  if  it  opens  sur- 
prising views  and  means  more  of  love- 
liness; and  again,  since  it  is  not  a 
traffic  road,  the  grades  impose  no  hard- 
ships. It  will  be  well  to  secure  for  the 
road  as  broad  a  right-of-way  as  pos- 
sible— but  the  object  of  such  breadth 
should  be  only  to  preserve  the  beauty 
at  the  sides,  for  the  actual  road  itself 
should  certainly  not  be  wider  than 
twenty  feet.  It  should,  however,  for 
that  width,  be  very  good.  The  useful- 
ness of  the  road  will  be  in  the  pleasure 
that  it  gives,  and  it  were  poor  econ- 
omy if  any  uncertainty,  danger  or 
roughness  of  the  way  marred  the  en- 
joj^ment  of  the  prospect. 

If  there  be  desired  a  longer  circuit 
and  connection  with  the  other  parks, 
there  appears  now  the  secondary  but 
very  great  value  of  that  new  highway 
which  I  proposed  should  connect  the 
Kenwood  Park  section — or,  for  the 
present,  Twenty-seventh  street — with 
the  west  side  by  a  bridge  at  about  the 
point  where  McLeod's  Run  now  empties 
into  the  river.  For  then,  instead  of 
turning  back  to  town  by  the  boule- 
vard. It  would  be  possible  to  go  direct, 
by  pleasant  drive,  to  Daniels  park,  and 
thence  into  town  by  Center  Point  road; 
or,  for  longer  turn,  to  North  Twelfth 
street,  and  so  by  pretty  Cedar  lake 
back  to  the  boulevard  and  to  the  heart 
of  town;  or  for  a  longer  circuit  yet,  to 
continue  on  across  the  river,  and  on 
the  west  side  turn  to  the  left  to  town 
or  to  the  right  to  Ellis  park. 

In  section  A  I  advocated  this  new 
thoroughtare  as  called  for  by  various 
prosaic  considerations — as  a  short-cut, 
as  a  connecting  link  between  districts 
widely  separated,  as  opening  new 
tracts  for  settlement.  But  it  is  obvious 
that  it  has  also  a  very  great  value  as  a 
park  connection,  and  that  it  would 
quickly  take  its  place  as  an  im- 
portant link  in  a  circling  chain 
of  boulevard  or  parkway  that 
like  a  girdle  might  encompass 
Cedar  Rapids,  giving  to  the  city 
that  comprehensiveness  of  plan,  that 
connection  which  transforms  scattered 
parks  into  a  system,  and  that  ease  of 
access    to   the  park   system   from   any 


section  of  the  town,  which  is  now  pos- 
sessed by  few  but  the  larger  communi- 
ties. So  great  is  the  value  of  the  new 
thoroughfare  in  this  respect  that  the 
function  is  to  be  recognized  in  its  de- 
velopment.     It   should     be     given    the 

.  width  of  a  road  that  is  to  be  used  for 
both   traffic  and  pleasure  driving;    and 

1  its  connections  with  the  city  are  to  be 

!  treated  with  thought  of  this  new  ser- 
^^  vice,  for,  though  the  proposed  belt  is 
necessarily  moderate  in  length,  there 
is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  just 
as  beautiful  as  that  which  binds  to- 
gether   the    parks    of   Kansas   City,    of 

.  Minneapolis,  of  Chicago,  and  of  Bos- 
ton. Of  these  connections.  North 
Twelfth  street  is,  to  my  mind,  of  par- 
ticularly   interesting    possibilities. 

There  are  many  cities  that  would 
gladly  expend  great  sums  of  money  if 
by  so  doing  they  could  obtain  such  a 
sheet  of  water  as  Cedar  lake.  To  util- 
ize it.  Cedar  Rapids  has  need  to  do 
very  little.  On  two  sides  there  are 
railroads,  on  a  third  side  there  is  now 
a  public  highway  for  nearly  the  whole 
distance  on  the  margin,  and  only  the 
north  end  is  in  private  hands,  and  here 
I  have  suggested  putting  the  new  road 
that  is  to  join  the  west  side  and  the 
Kenwoftd  section.  As  to  the  railroads, 
they  occupy  land  that  might  have  been 
of  good  service  for  a  drive,  but  if  the 
embankments  be  planted  with  a  tan- 
gle of  willows,  poplars,  sumac,  and 
wild  grape,  the  scenic  detraction  due  to 
the  railroads  will  be  negative  rather 
than  positive — for  the  quick  full  growth 
will  screen  them  and  will  make  a  beau- 
tiful frame  of  green  across  the  placid 
lily-studded  waters.  Then  North 
Twelfth  street,  frankly  treated  as  a 
parkway,  will  render  the  foreground 
beautiful.  And  a  parkway  treatment 
here,  it  may  be  well  to  remark,  inci- 
dentally urges  the  abolition  of  the  two 
grade  crossings — happily,  in  one  case 
at  least,  no  difficult  matter. 

It  is  apparent  that  while  there  is 
need  of  doing  very  little,  yet  that  the 
little  will  serve  a  double  purpose.  For 
it  will  add  to  the  attractiveness  of  the 
\oop  driveway  and  it  will  transform 
Cedar  lake  into  a  park.  Such  a  sheet 
of  water  needs  only  three  things  to 
attain  park  usefulness:  (1)  A  suffi- 
cient purity,  which,  if  not  already  as- 
sured, can  here  be  secured  by  turning 
McLeod's  Run  back  into  the  lake  again 
— a  very  simple  operation;  (2)  the 
beauty  ot  the  shores,  of  which  I  have 
already  spoken;  and  (3)  public  access 
to  the  water.  This  is  provided  by  the 
extensive  public  ownership  of  the 
shore,  on  the  Twelfth  street  side.  So 
by  the  concealment  of  the  railroads  by 
heavy  niarginal  planting,  and  perhaps 
the  turning  back  of  McLeod's  Run,  we 
have  a  park  ready  made.  And  it  is 
such    a    good    and    serviceable    sort   of 


park,  with  its  boating  facilities  adja- 
cent to  a  large  residential  section,  and 
is  so  distinct  in  character  from  any  of 
the  other  Cedar  Rapids  parks  that  it 
is  worth  making  the  very  best  of. 

To  that  purpose,  I  recommend  that 
two  other  things  be  done:  (1)  That  at 
the  north  end,  where  the  land  is  pri- 
vately owned,  a  drive  swing  off  to  the 
left,  curving  around  the  upper  end  of 
the  slough  on  the  natural  embankment 
or  ridge  that  marks  its  upper  limits, 
so  joining  the  proposed  new  road.  It 
would  be  a  matter  of  only  a  few  feet, 
but  it  would  further  insure  the  shore 
line  from  despoilment,  and  further  safe- 
guard the  waters  from  defilement, 
would  increase  the  opportunity  for  pub- 
lic access  to  the  pond,  and  would  open 
new  and  interesting  views  of  it;  (2)  I 
recommend  the  acquirement  of  the  lit- 
tle triangle  on  the  high  ground,  at  the 
southeast  end  of  the  lake,  between  it 
and  the  hospital.  This  is  a  small  tract, 
but  of  great  park  value — a  lovely  spot 
from  which  to  watch  the  sunsets,  and 
quite  the  ideal  of  a  small  neighbor- 
hood park — the  sort  of  park  in  which 
Cedar  Rapids  is  deficient.  It  would 
mean  something  indeed  to  the  hospital 
to  have  this  little  dividing  strip  pre- 
served and  beautified,  but  it  would 
mean  much  more  to  the  city.  The 
charm  of  the  park  is  its  view — as  sweet 
and  tranquil  a  picture  as  one  could  ask. 
And  therein  appears — quite  apart  from 
its  social  service — the  civic  economy  of 
reserving  and  parking  the  tract.  You 
have  the  picture  and  this  would  give 
you  the  position  from  which  to  view  it. 
It  is  nowhere  so  beautiful  as  from  that 
spot,  and  for  Cedar  Rapids  to  fail  to 
reserve  this  little  vantage  point  would 
be  as  if  a  man  had  been  given  an  ex- 
quisite painting,  had  taken  the  trouble 
worthily  to  frame  it,  and  then  neglect- 
ed to  provide  any  space  in  the  room 
from  which  he  could  enjoy  a  good  view 
of  it.  * 

There  will  be  nothing  expensive 
about  the  development  of  the  plat — to 
keep  the  grass  cut,  keep  the  weeds  out, 
and  provide  some  benches,  is  very 
nearly  all  that  will  be  required.  For 
the  great  feature  is  the  view  and  any 
elaborate  floral  treatment  which  would 
tend  to  distract  attention  from  that 
would  be  only  in  poor  taste. 

And  now  let  us  see  what  this  little 
park  is  leading  us  to,  in  the  suggested 
inner  loop.  It  requires  no  vigor  of  im- 
agination to  foresee  a  probability  that, 
unless  shackled  by  the  terms  of  some 
gift,  the  trustees  of  Coe  college  will 
ultimately  sell  the  present  campus  site 

*  The  city  has  now  under  way  pro- 
ceedings looking  to  the  purchase  of 
"Sunset  Park"  for  park  purposes  as 
outlined  in  this  report. 


— necessarily  restricted  as  it  is,  and  be- 
coming immensely  valuable — and  will 
move  further  out  of  town,  where,  for 
the  same  money  and  with  no  real  sacri- 
fice of  accessibility,  there  can  be  ob- 
tained greater  quiet,  freedom  of  the 
students  from  a  city's  tempting  dis- 
tractions, and  a  much  ampler  ground 
space,  with  the  larger  opportunities 
that  gives  for  development.  When  that 
change  takes  place,  the  platting  of  the 
present  college  grounds  should  provide 
a  diagonal  driveway  from  the  triangle 
park  to  First  avenue  and  Thirteenth 
street — if,  indeed,  the  authorities  are 
not  ready  even  now  to  permit  a  circling 
drive  to  pass  from  one  of  these  corners 
to  the  other,  through  the  grounds.  Then 
the  extension  of  Grand  avenue  the 
short  distance  to  First  would  complete 
a  remarkably  interesting  and  delightful 
park  loop  on  the  east  side.  Indeed,  if 
Grand  avenue  be  not  extended,  it  will 
still  be  very  good,  for  of  the  street  sys- 
tem we  should  have  to  use  only  Third 
avenue  from  Grand  to  Fourteenth 
street — where  nearly  all  of  one  side  is 
now  bordered  by  Redmond  and  Huston 
parks,  and  which,  a  hundred  feet  wide, 
is  free  from  car  tracks  in  this  portion 
— a  couple  of  blocks  of  Fourteenth — a 
broad  and  pleasant  residential  street — 
and  one  block  of  the  boulevard. 

Think  for  a  moment  of  the  varied 
scenery;  ravine  and  viewpoint,  lake 
and  forest,  in  the  circuit  from  starting 
point  to  starting  point;  and  ask  your- 
selves T^  hat  other  city  of  the  middle 
West,  though  it  have  many  times  the 
population  and  financial  resources  of 
Cedar  Rapids,  can  offer,  all  within  its 
borders,  such  a  circular  park-drive  as 
that.  And  how  easy  it  is  to  acquire — 
just  a  link  here,  a  road  there,  an  op- 
portunity turned  to  advantage!  I  do 
not  anticipate  that  a  single  inch  of 
ground  would  have  to  be  bought,  ex- 
cept perhaps  the  triangle  between  the 
hospital  and  the  lake.  But  that  would 
be  purchased  not  for  the  drive,  which 
is  quite  independent  of  it,  but  for  a 
park. 

If  one  did  not  return  to  the  city  by 
North  Twelfth  street,  but  elected  to 
continue  across  the  river,  the  choice 
would  mean  no  surrender  of  interest 
and  attractiveness.  As  far  as  the  river 
there  would  be  the  creek  on  one  side 
and  the  lake  on  the  other.  Then  would 
come  the  bridge,  passing  over  the  rail- 
road without  need  of  grade  crossing, 
and  spanning  the  river  where  it  is 
much  broken  with  islands  and  rendered 
very  picturesque.  On  the  west  shore, 
a  turn  to  the  right  would  take  one  up 
North  Seventh  street — here  become  a 
riverside  drive — to  Ellis  park.  For  a 
short  distance,  in  shallow  lots,  stand 
perhaps  a  half  dozen  houses  between 
the  road  and  the  river.  Some  day,  when 
Cedar   Rapids   is   larger   and   richer,   it 


will  acquire  these.  Meanwhile,  it 
should  obtain  by  the  co-operation  of 
the  Ri\fer  Front  Improvement  commis- 
sion whatever  land  above  them  is  still 
privately  owned,  between  road  and 
river,  to  Ellis  park. 

In  that  future  day — still  too  remote 
to  justify  recommendations  for  imme- 
diate expenditure — there  will  be  an- 
other crossing,  yet  further  up.  For 
North  Twelfth  street  will  be  carried  far 
up  the  river,  climbing  the  bluffs  and 
skirting  their  edge  for  long  views  that 
vary  in  loveliness  with  every  changing 
angle.  And  somewhere  near  the  pres- 
ent city  line,  one  can  fancy,  there  will 
be  a  liver  crossing  to  return  to  Ellis 
park.  There  is  no  way  of  getting 
along  the  up-river  bluffs  now  except 
by  tramping,  and  probably  not  one  res- 
ident in  several  thousand  in  Cedar 
Rapids  knows  how  noble  a  drive  waits, 
within  the  present  city  limits  on  the 
east  side,  for  its  costly  developinent 
until  a  much  larger  population — or  a 
real  estate  speculation — furnishes  the 
means. 

But  returning  to  the  problems  of  to- 
day, we  may  go  back  to  the  west  end 
of  the  new  bridge  that  is  to  cross  the 
river  at  McLeod's  Run.  Suppose  that 
instead  of  electing  to  go  to  the  right, 
to  Ellis  park,  the  choice  had  been  to 
the  left — toward  town.  North  First 
street  west  affords  now  a  fine  riverside 
drive,  until  the  icehouse  is  reached  just 
above  the  Northwestern  railroad  bridge. 
It  would  be  no  difficult  matter  to  car- 
ry the  road  under  the  tracks,  but  at 
once  one  loses  the  river  and  gets  into 
an  industrial  section  that  is  destructive 
to  any  effects  suggestive  of  a  park  ap- 
proach. The  only  thing  to  do  after 
crossing  here  would  be  to  go  by  the 
shortest  route  possible  to  Third  street, 
which,  happily,  would  be  a  distance  of 
only  a  block  or  so.  But  as  an  alterna- 
tive I  suggest,  in  order  to  maintain 
more  unbrokenly  the  character  of  a 
park  approach,  that  the  drive  swing 
around  the  icehouse,  going  beneath  the 
Northwestern  tracks  at  a  point  oppo- 
site North  Third  street  west,  and  then 
to  that  thoroughfare.  The  latter  can 
be  easily  widened  the  three  and  a  half 
blocks  to  E  avenue,  whence  it  leads,  a 
broad,  pleasant  street,  to  First,  Second 
and  Third  avenues,  with  their  river 
bridges  connecting  with  the  east  side, 
or  as  far  south  as  one  wishes  to  go. 

The  little  change  will  make  a  very 
stunning  approach  to  Ellis  park  all  the 
way  from  the  heart  of  the  city — 
whether  east  side  or  west.  And  it  is 
surprising  how  favorable  the  condi- 
tions are,  as  yet,  for  obtaining  it.  From 
the  point  where  the  road  would  swing 
away  from  the  river,  to  go  around 
the  ice  house  to  the  railroad,  the  land 
is  still  unbuilt  upon — actually  waiting 
for   such   development!      Reaching   the 


LOOKING   NORTH    FROM   THE   NORTHWESTERN  TRACKS,  AT  A  POINT 
OPPOSITE    THIRD    STREET  WEST,      SHOWING      THE 
OPEN   LAND  AVAILABLE    FOR  A   STREET. 


THE   SHORE    DIRECTLY   OPPOSITE   RIVERSIDE  PARK  IS  VERY  BEAU- 
TIFUL. 


AN    OUTGROWN    METHOD   OF   TREATING  STREET  CORNERS  THAT  IS 
UGLY   AND    DANGEROUS— NOTE    HOW   CLOSE     TO     THE 
CURB  THE  STREET  CAR  TRACK  COMES  AT  THE  CORNER. 


A    Bit   ot   Vacant    Property   at  the    Intersection    of    Three    Streets    on    the    West 
Side    That    Would     Make    an    Admirable      Playground      Site — A 
Cow   and    a    Billboard    Nov/   Share    It. 


'Please,  Sir,  Are  We  Not   More  Important  Than  the  Cow  and  the  Billboard?' 
A  Few  of  the  Children  Who     Live  Around  the  Plat. 


^  OF  THe      ^ 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE  NEAT  WALKS  AND  LAWNS  OF    THE    POLK    SCHOOL     AND    THE 
BARBARISM  OF  THE  NAME  ON  THE  TERRACE. 


IT   IS   IMPORTANT  THAT  A   BUILDING    LINE    BE    ESTABLISHED— THIS 
ST^IEET  ILLUSTRATES   THE   TENDENCY  WHEN   THERE   IS   NOT 
AN    ORDINANCE,   TO   THRUST  EACH  HOUSE  OUT  A  LIT- 
TLE  FURTHER  THAN    ITS    NEIGHBOR. 


OF  THE      "* 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


j    tX7dN<3ION6       I 

FffOPjbSEP    FOR      CEIfAR  HRFtU3,IR 

I  Br 

CH^KLE5     MULF0fri7  HOBIN^ON 

JULY     1908 


^(Tty  /^/'A-  ;?^rrs 


OF  THE     ■* 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


► 


C  :  '^'^ 


:*0/7y      j; 


SECOND   AVENUE    BRIDGE    AND    THE    UPPER    END   OF    THE    ISLAND. 


THE   ISLAND'S  LOWErt   END. 


>^     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


UNI 


th. 


^ERS 


OF  I 


ITV 


4LL^PRN\^, 


GREENE   SQUARE. 
The  shrubs  that  are  planted  scatteringly  should    be   massed    in    groups,   and 
there  should   be  obtained  an  open   lawn   effect. 


...-;■:-::  ^-ii 

i 

K' . 

^^nHAH 

J^^^^Mp^.  :!'■■■: 

ft 

THE  STONE  TOOL  HOUSE  IN  GREENE  SQUARE. 


GREENE  SQUARE,  LOOKING  TOWARD  THIRD  AVENUE  ON  THE  RAIL- 
ROAD SIDE. 
Note  the  lack  of  adequate  boundary  between  the  tracks  and  the  park,  and 
the   need   of   better  defining  the  entrance. 


V 


tracks,  tliej''  are  found  already  elevated, 
on  an  embankment  so  high  that  a  grade 
crossing  would  be  as  discouragingly 
difficult  and  costly  as  it  would  be  un- 
desirable. Then  there  is  only  the  depth 
of  one  lot,  with  an  inexpensive  frame 
house  upon  it,  between  this  point  and 
Third  street.  An  important  result  of 
the  changes  would  be  that  Ellis  park 
would  no  longer  be  isolated.  It  would 
be  tied  into  the  street  system  of  the 
city,  and  would  be  brought  attractively 
close  to  all  parts  of  the  west  side  and 
east. 

Riverside  park,  while  necessarily  a 
neighborhood  park  in  its  limited  area, 
in  its  service,  and  in  the  apartness  of 
its  location,  comes  so  close  to  South 
Third  street  west  that  it  would  be 
practically  another  of  the  jewels  on  this 
chain.  The  road  which  now  leads  into 
it  from  Sixteenth  avenue  at  the  bridge 
ought  to  be  beautified  and  emphasized 
as  a  park  approach.  The  railroad  sid- 
ing is  of  course  unfortunate;  but,  as- 
suming that  it  must  remain,  there 
should  be  no  difficulty  about  "planting 
It  out"  by  putting  a  screen  of  shrubs 
between  it  and  the  road. 

With  two  more  suggestions,  I  shall 
have  done  with  an  advocacy  of  new 
parks  and  parkways,  for  I  reserve  dis- 
cussion of  the  island  for  another  place, 
and  denj'  myself — as  looking  into  too 
long  a  future— mention  of  the  drive 
that  some  time  will  be  made  from  north 
to  south  on  the  ridge  that  bounds  the 
city  to  the  west;  or  mention  of  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  hill  at  the  turn  of  the 
river  south  of  Riverside  park,  or  of 
the  utilization  of  Indian  creek  for  park 
purposes.  These  would  constitute  rec- 
ommendations that  must  await  a  much 
larger  city  and  that  need  not  today 
have  serious   thought. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  river,  between 
the  Sixteenth  avenue  bridge  and  Tenth 
avenue,  there  is  a  short  stretch  of  riv- 
er bank  which  the  railroads  have  not 
invaded.  The  shore  is  very  beautiful, 
and  lying  directly  across  from  River- 
side park  the  preservation  of  its  beauty 
is  a  matter  of  special  concern.  An  al- 
ley parallels  the  river  for  this  distance, 
and  a  number  of  small  houses  have 
been  erected,  backing  on  the  river  and 
fronting  on  the  alley.  Twelfth  street, 
however,  is  carried  through  to  the 
brink,  giving  to  the  city  the  width  of 
at  least  one  lot  on  the  bank.  Now,  I 
could  wish  that  the  River  Front  Im- 
provement commission,  under  the  pow- 
ers so  wisely  given  to  it,  would  under- 
take to  preserve  the  beauty  and  in- 
crease the  public  availability  of  this 
four-block  stretch  of  river  bank.  This 
is  now  as  completely  closed  to  public 
enjoyment  as  if  it  also  had  been  given 
over  to  the  railroads;  and  yet  there  is 
gathered  close  about  it  a  large  popula- 
tion, to  which  a  park  reservation  along 


the  river,  where  one  might  sit  on  a 
summer  evening,  would  be  peculiarly 
acceptable. 

My  plan  would  be  for  the  commission 
to  acquire  title  to  the  lands  between 
the  alley  and  the  river  bank,  for  the 
municipality  to  vacate  the  alley  and 
deed  that  also  to  the  commission  on 
agreement  that  a  new  park-like  road 
should  be  built  closer  to  the  shore.  By 
selling  off  the  lots  fronting  on  this 
drive — they  ought  to  bring  good  prices 
with  such  an  outlook — monev  enough 
should  h^t  secured  not  onlv  to  pay  for 
the  land  which  the  commission  must 
acquire,  but  to  build  the  new  road, 
and  park  the  banks.  A  twenty  foot 
macadam  road,  a  strip  of  parking,  and 
a  walk  along  the  brink,  with  many 
seats  facing  toward  the  river,  and  the 
shores  put  in  proper  condition  and  their 
growth  so  thinned  as  to  open  views, 
would  make  this  a  very  serviceable  bit 
of  river  bank  improvement,  which,  ap- 
parently, can  be  secured  at  slight  or  no 
cost  to  the  community.  The  river  is 
swift  and  attractive  here;  on  the  hot- 
test evenings  there  would  never  fail  to 
be  a  good  current  of  air;  and  just  as 
this  park  would  preserve  the  beauty 
of  the  opposite  shore  for  Riverside  park, 
so  Riverside  would  perform  a  like  ser- 
vice for  much  of  this.  There  would 
thus  De  double  economy  in  utilizing 
this  well-placed  strip,  that  so  happily 
remains  available.  Incidentally  it 
would  carry  the  circuit  of  park  drive 
back  into  the  heart  of  town. 

Further  up  stream,  where  railroads 
and  business  crowd  the  shores,  there 
would  Stem  to  be  little  more  to  hope  for 
than  the  neatness,  orderliness  and  ap- 
propriateness of  a  substantial  seawall. 
Yet  on  the  west  bank,  from  the  B  ave- 
nue bridge  to  the  First  avenue  or  even 
to  the  Second,  there  seems  to  be  a  good 
chance  for  a  riverside  park  that  wotild 
not  only  preserve  in  the  very  center 
of  the  city  some  of  the  natural  loveli- 
ness of  the  stream  bank,  but,  in  such 
location,  would  perforin  large  social 
service.  A  portion,  indeed,  of  this 
tract  would  be  a  valuable  location  for 
a  playground. 

The  children's  playground  movement 
is  spreading  rapidly  over  the  United 
States,  as  by  merit  it  deserves  to  do. 
Cedar  Rtipids  is  too  progressive  a  city 
not  shortly  to  join  in  it.  There  has 
seemed  to  be  no  need  to  make  here  a 
study  of  available  sites,  for  play- 
grounds are  easily  located,  even  a  va- 
cant lot,  when  properly  equipped  and 
supervised,    serving    admirably. 

If  I  have  pictured  an  elaborate  park 
system,  it  must  be  remembered  that  my 
duty  is  to  sketch  Cedar  Rapids  as  it 
ought  to  be — with  the  opportunities 
that  lie  before  it;  and,  as  I  believe,  un- 
der the  guidance  of  wise  officials,  it 
will    be.     For    it    is  not  proposed   that 


all  these  things  be  done  at  once.  The 
plan  is  an  ideal,  which  the  city  is  to 
develop  toward,  going  step  by  step  as 
it  is  able,  year  by  year.  Tet  consid- 
eration should  be  given  to  the  danger 
and  growing  cost  consequent  upon  de- 
lay. I  suppose  that  no  one  who  be- 
lieves in  Cedar  Rapids  thinks  that  it 
will  be  cheaper  to  do  these  things  in  the 
future  than  it  is  today.  And  in  the  ag- 
gregate, the  undertakings  that  are  to 
give  to  Cedar  Rapids  such  a  system  of 
parks  and  parkways — unusually  com- 
plete and  democratically  serviceable 
though  it  will  be — appear  far  more 
formidable  than  when  taken  one  by 
one.  For  by  utilizing  existing  streets 
and  parks,  and  obtaining  rights-of-way 
through  property  which  has  not  yet 
been  opened — always  an  easy  acquire- 
ment for  a  parkway,  so  greatly  is  the 
abutting?  property  benefited — there  is 
need  of  buying  practically  nothing. 
Perhaps  the  only  purchases  will  be  the 
little  strip  at  the  head  of  Cedar  lake, 
which  w  ill  be  for  park  pui'poses  as  well 
as  drive;  the  triangle  on  the  bluff  at 
its  foot,  for  a  neighborhood  park;  the 
few  feet  that  will  connect  North  Third 
street  west  with  the  riverside  drive,  in 
detour  around  the  icehouse,  if  that  be 
decided  upon;  the  strip  for  an  east  side 
riverbank  park,  which  the  re-sale  of 
abutting  lots  should  not  only  pay  for 
but  develop;  and  perhaps  a  little  of  the 
west  river  bank  below  B  avenue. 

After  all,  so  far  as  we  have  gone  as 
yet,  there  is  needed  rather  the  ability 
to  plan  and  the  courage  to  execute 
than  any  considerable  expenditure. 
And  when  there  is  reflection  on  the 
great  advantage  to  the  city  of  the 
changes  which  have  been  proposed,  no 
particular  courage  is  needed.  In  mu- 
nicipal development,  financial  reward 
comes  with  service  to  the  community. 
That  which  increases  the  beauty  of  a 
city  and  its  attractiveness  for  resi- 
dence, draws  a  very  desirable  sort  of 
people  to  it,  increasing  its  business, 
settling  unoccupied  lands,  and  much 
increasing  assessable  values.  Wher- 
ever a  study  has  been  made  of  the  sub- 
ject, it  is  the  unvarying  testimony  that 
well-planned  parks  and  parkways  do 
more  than  pay  for  themselves.  They 
do  that  many  times  over.  They  be- 
come, indeed,  extremely  profitable  in- 
vestments to  the  community. 

C. — Local     Improvements    and     Correc- 
tions. 

It  should  be  clear  from  the  words 
used  In  introducing  this  report,  that 
Cedar  Rapids  gives  a  very  delightful 
impression  and  that  the  shortcomings 
which  need  correction  are  nothing  like 
as  great  as  in  many  communities  of  the 
same   size.      I    speak    of    this    because, 


while  serving  you  only  wrhen  recom- 
mending improvements,  it  seems  un- 
gracious in  so  attractive  a  city  simply 
to  pick  flaws.  Yet,  the  very  fact  that 
Cedar  Rspids  has  developed  so  well  in 
most  respects,  makes  its  faults  the 
more  glaring,  and  the  better  worth  cor- 
recting, that  the  product  may  be  of  the 
best.  I  shall  discuss  improvements  in 
public  pioperty  under  three  heads:  The 
streets,  the  schools  and  the  parks.  Then 
I  shall  speak  of  the  two  great  scars 
upon  the  city,  and  their  possible  ameli- 
oration. 

1.  The  Streets — One  is  at  once  im- 
pressed by  the  absence  of  name  signs. 
This  is  not  exactly  a  matter  that  has 
to  do  with  the  physical  improvement  of 
the  city;  but  it  is  a  fault  so  impossible 
to  overlook,  so  constantly  thrusting  it- 
self upon  the  attention  of  any  stranger 
who  is  trying  to  get  about  and  form  an 
intelligent  opinion  of  Cedar  Rapids, 
that  it  requires  to  be  mentioned.  You 
have  adopted  a  system  of  nomencla- 
ture designed  to  be  simple,  sacrificing 
for  that  end  all  the  historical  interest, 
picturesqueness  and  pleasantness  of  de- 
scription that  should  be  in  the  names 
of  a  city's  streets.  But  owing  to  the 
irregularity  of  the  city's  plan,  the  re- 
sult remains  extraordinarily  complex 
and  confusing.  There  is  not  only  the 
repetition  of  names  on  the  two  sides  of 
the  river,  so  that  a  point  of  the  com- 
pass must  be  cumberously  designated 
at  both  ends  of  many  of  the  names; 
hut  there  is  no  uniformity  between 
continuance  of  street  and  continuance 
of  name.  For  example,  take  Ninth 
avenue.  At  its  beginning,  on  the  west 
side,  it  runs  directly  east.  Just  before 
reaching  L  street  west  it  swerves  to 
the  northeast,  but  continues  as  Ninth 
avenue.  Incidentally,  this  part  of  it  is 
given  up  to  the  railroad,  so  that  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  or  anything  except  in 
name,  it  ceases  to  be  a  street.  Across 
the  river — bridged  only  by  a  railroad 
structure — it  continues  as  Ninth  ave- 
nue, and  becomes  a  thoroughfare  again 
when  the  railroad  gets  through  with  it, 
at  so-called  Fourth  street.  Now  a  fine, 
broad,  straight  avenue,  it  extends  to 
Mt.  Vernon  road  where  another  angle 
swerves  it,  so  that  it  begins  to  run  di- 
rectly at  right  angles  with  its  begin- 
ning. The  name,  which  has  withstood 
so  many  vicissitudes,  fails,  however,  to 
get  around  this  angle  and  you  find 
yourself  on — you  know  not  by  what 
mathematical  process  —  Fourteenth 
street.  Or,  take  Twentieth  avenue, 
which,  if  carried  in  a  straight  line 
through  Oak  Hill  cemetery,  rises  on 
the  other  side  of  the  graves  as  Sev- 
enteenth. Clearly,  intuition  and  sys- 
tem   cannot    be    trusted,    and    there    is 


need  that  the  streets  be  labeled  with 
their  names.  * 

The  waste  cans  in  the  business  sec- 
tion are  very  bad — utterly  unworthy  of 
Cedar  Rapids.  To  my  mind  it  is  un- 
pardonable for  a  city  of  the  pretensions 
and  resources  of  Cedar  Rapids  so  con- 
spicuously to  profess  such  abject  pov- 
erty that  it  cannot  afford  to  buy  its 
own  few  waste  cans,  but  must  get  a 
theater  to  furnish  them  to  it,  in  return 
for  the  advertising  privilege.  I  do  not 
think  that  is  "good  business."  But  if 
we  assume  that  Cedar  Rapids  is  just 
as  poor  as  it  thus  tries  to  make  every 
business  man  who  visits  it  believe,  it 
ought  for  the  advertising  privilege  to 
get  cans  that  are  well  built,  neatly 
painted  and  properly  maintained.  The 
privilege  of  advertising  on  them  is  eas- 
ily worth  not  only  an  initial  outlay  but 
such  annual  payment  as  will  keep  the 
cans  in  the  best  of  condition.  But  it 
would  tie  my  advice  to  the  city  to  buy 
its  own  cans,  and  not  allow  any  posters 
on  them,  before  it  thinks  of  more 
parks.  * 

The  old  method,  now,  I  understand, 
abandoned,  of  joining  intercepting 
curbs  at  street  intersections,  puts  a 
conspicuous  blemish  on  the  city.  Ev- 
ery modern  municipality  requires  that 
the  curbs  be  rounded  at  the  corners, 
with  a  radius  of  not  less  than  nine  feet 
and  of  more  when  opportunity  offers. 
This  Is  required  not  only  for  looks, 
but  for  the  convenience  and  safety  of 
traffic,  and  the  correction  should  be 
made  here  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

Owing  to  the  breadth  of  Cedar  Rap- 
ids streets,  many  of  them,  both  in  and 
out  of  the  residential  districts,  present 
too  great  a  width  of  pavement.  In  the 
business  section,  their  condition  can  be 
remedied  to  the  eye,  and  the  streets 
given  a  new  dignity  and  a  more  im- 
posing character  by  the  simple  device 
of  placing  well  designed  electric  light 
masts  down  the  center.  Some  notion 
of  the  improved  effect  can  be  secured 
by  observing  those  streets  that  have 
the  center  trolley  poles;  but  the  effect 
would  be  better  than  that,  for  a  digni- 
fied arrangement  would  be  substituted 
for  the  present  flimsy  looking  method 

*  Eight  years  ago  street  signs  were 
painted,  but  for  some  reason  were  not 
put  in  place.  Since  Mr.  Robinson's 
visit  to  Cedar  Rapids  these  signs  have 
been  resurrected  and  placed  in  position 
on  the  streets. 


*  The  city  of  Cedar  Rapids  has  since 
purchased  a  supply  of  the  most  ap- 
proved waste  cans — of  a  style  recom- 
mended by  Mr.  Robinson.  They  will 
be  neatly  painted  and  carry  no  adver- 
tisements. 


of  suspending  the  light  globes;  and  the 
trolley  v/ires  and  tracks  would  not 
draw  horizontal  lines  to  detract,  as 
they  unconsciously  do,  from  the  per- 
pendicular effect  of  the  poles. 

First  avenue,  for  its  whole  length, 
should  have — as  the  middle  street,  the 
widest  street,  the  vertebral  column  in 
the  structure  of  the  city — a  special 
treatment.  It  is  an  exceedingly  hand- 
some thoroughfare  now,  with  its  120 
feet  from  lot  line  to  lot  line,  its  wide 
side-parking  in  the  residential  section, 
its  center  trolley  poles  and  its  long 
perspectives.  But  it  might  well  have 
a  particular  distinction.  To  this  end 
I  would  urge  that  in  the  residential 
section  the  pavement  in  the  car  tracks 
be  taken  up  and  greensward  substi- 
tuted for  it.  The  only  way  in  which 
paving  there  affects  the  public  is  to 
add  to  the  noise  of  the  street  and  its 
dust.  The  greensward — and  it  is  sig- 
nificant of  the  pavement's  little  need 
that  at  the  time  of  my  visit  grass  was 
growing  thickly  in  the  center  between 
the  bricks — would  not  only  decrease 
noise  and  dust,  and  look  cooler  and 
pleasanter;  but  with  its  long,  well- 
defined  line  would  add  much  to  the 
beauty  of  the  street.  There  are  few 
strictly  urban  effects  more  satisfactory 
than  that  offered  by  rails  gleaming 
in  lines  of  silver  through  the  grass. 
And  it  is  not  village-like.  Nearly  all 
the  large  cities  give  examples  of  it — 
Boston  \ery  notably.  On  the  west  side, 
beyond  Tenth  street,  where  the  cars 
turn  off,  the  street  rises  over  the  hill. 
Here  the  greensward  should  be  con- 
tinued, as  center  parking;  and  for  its 
conspicuousness — as  a  tapis  vert  roll- 
ed down  before  the  eye,  and  visible  for 
a  long  distance — it  should  be  further 
adorned  with  low  flowering  shrubs, 
these  taking  the  place  of  the  decora- 
tion offered  below  by  rails  and  poles. 

As  the  bricks  that  would  be  removed 
are  in  good  condition  and  for  the  most 
part  available  for  use  again,  it  is  prob- 
able that  their  value  is  equivalent  to 
the  cost  of  their  removal,  the  substitu- 
tion of  the  grass,  and  the  latter's 
adornment  on  the  slope  with  plants.  So 
there  would  be  obtained,  at  little  or 
possibly  no  expense,  a  very  flne  effect — 
of  which  Iowa  City  conveniently  offers 
a  good  example  to  those  who  doubt.  It 
may  be  well  to  say,  in  this  connection, 
that  division  of  the  street,  either  by 
poles  tir  parking,  so  accelerates  and 
conveniences  the  traffic,  by  dividing  it 
into  distinct  streams  of  opposite  direc- 
tion, that  the  street  loses  none  of  its 
traffic  efficiency  by  the  change;  while 
crossovers  at  the  intersecting  streets, 
and  between  blocks  where  the  blocks 
are  long,  give  to  transverse  vehicle 
travel  all  the  opportunity  necessary. 
For   pedestrians      crossing     the     wide 


street,  the  center  parking  offers  a  wel- 
come isle  of  safety.  * 

Third  avenue,  on  the  east  side,  also 
presents  some  very  interesting-  possi- 
bilities from  Bever  avenue  out.  This 
is  because — a  broad,  arterial  street — 
it  forms  the  ridge,  or  crest,  which  binds 
together  two  distinct  street  systems, 
so  that  the  intersections  are  at  inter- 
esting angles  and  frequently — as  at 
Sixteenth,  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth 
streets — there  are  five  corners  instead 
of  four.  Huston  and  Redmond  park.s 
have  been  created  in  recognition  of  the 
situation,  but  triangle  parks  all  tlie 
way  out  would  be  a  costly  and  for  vari- 
ous reasons  unwise  arrangement.  There 
can  be  planned,  however,  a  concave 
rounding  of  corners  where  the  five 
streets  come  in,  so  as  to  form  such 
circles  as  the  English  call  "circuses." 
These  would  leave  the  property  avail- 
able, and  even  of  great  value,  for  build- 
ing, and  would  make  of  the  avenue  a 
very  attractively  interesting  street.  I 
advise  that  this  be  done. 

At  the  Grand  avenue  intersection, 
considering  the  use  to  which  I  propose 
to  put  this  part  of  Third  avenue  as  a 
link  in  the  boulevard  circuit,  the  ef- 
fect would  be  bettered  by  rounding  off 
a  corner  of  Redmond  park  so  as  to 
swing  Grand  avenue  into  Third  by  a 
curve.  It  would  make  the  drive  inore 
obvious  and  would  improve  the  looks 
of  the  park. 

There  are  also  various  points,  where 
— when  the  streets  are  improved — a 
little  care  in  the  rounding  of  corners 
will  ovei  come  in  effect  the  present  bad 
jogs.  An  example  is  offered — to  go  to 
the  west  side — by  North  Fourth  street's 
crossing  of  E  avenue.  This  street,  by 
the  way,  ought  to  be  carried  through 
to  Fir-;t  avenue.  It  now  ends  in  an  al- 
ley wnich,  making  the  one-block  con- 
nection, could  be  easily  widened. 

Finally,  it  is  most  important  that  a 
building  line  be  established  by  ordi- 
nance. This  will  not  be  the  same  on 
every  street,  its  distance  from  the  walk 
depending  on  the  character  of  the 
neighborhood,  the  depth  of  the  lots, 
and  the  style  of  building.  But  the  es- 
tablishment for  every  street,  or  unit 
of  street,  of  a  definite  building  line 
somewhere  is  a  protective  measure  of 
utmost  concern  to  every  house  owner 
and  house  renter,  while  incidentally  it 
will  do  much  for  the  beauty  of  the 
streets. 

2.  The  Schools — The  public  school 
property,  in  its  aggregate  value,  in  its 
wide  distribution,  in  its  local  conspic- 

*  Since  the  writing  of  this  report  a 
parkway  twenty  feet  in  width  has  been 
established  in  the  center  of  First  ave- 
nue west  extending  a  distance  of  three 
blocks  west  from  Tenth  street,  as  sug- 
gested   by    Mr.   Robinson. 


uousness,  has  a  much  greater  potential 
value  in  improving  the  aspect  of  cities 
than  is  commonly  realized.  And  to  the 
direct  physical  contribution  which  its 
proper  improvement  can  make  to  mu- 
nicipal attractiveness  and  beauty,  there 
is  to  ,.'e  added,  as  of  yet  greater  sig- 
nificance, the  influence  of  its  example. 
This  is  both  upon  the  children,  who 
spend  on  school  property  a  good  part 
of  the  most  impressionable  years  of 
their  lives,  and  upon  the  neighborhood. 
To  better  the  appearance  of  the  school 
buildings  and  the  school  grounds 
should  therefore  be  considered  on&  of 
the  first  duties  of  a  progressive  city. 

In  the  case  of  Cedar  Rapids,  it  is  lit- 
tle use  to  discuss  the  buildings  that 
have  been  already  constructed;  but  the 
improvement  of  the  grounds  is  a  goal 
still  easily  within  reach.  I  think  I  vis- 
ited almost  every  school  yard  in  the 
city.  There  is,  however,  such  resem- 
blance in  their  development  that  it  is 
possible  to  discuss  them  in  general 
terms.  For  the  most  part  the  grounds 
are  of  unusually  good  size.  There  are 
frequently  some  good  trees  on  them. 
In  addition  to  the  play  space,  there  are 
well  kept  turf  and  walks;  and  on  the 
lawn,  as  the  one  decoration  of  the 
schoolyard,  there  is  a  round  bed  of 
geraniums.  In  a  few  cases,  as  at  Mon- 
roe school,  this  is  protected  by  chicken 
wire;  but  as  a  rule  no  protection  is 
necessary.  At  the  Jefferson  school  the 
lawn  A'as  not  as  well  kept  as  at  most 
of  the  others,  but  the  group  of  oaks  in 
the  corner  is  exceptionally  satisfactory. 
At  Tyler  school,  terrace  and  retaining 
wall  are  so  high  that  the  grounds  do 
not  show  from  the  street,  but  we  have 
seen  that  the  influence  of  the  grounds' 
condition  on  the  children  is  one  of  the 
most  important  desiderata  in  their  im- 
provement. At  the  Polk  school,  canna 
are  substituted  for  the  geraniums  in 
the  two  round  beds,  the  tei'race  is  es- 
pecially well  kept  and  the  name  of  the 
school  is  printed  on  it  in  huge  concrete 
letters. 

Now  I  think  most  intelligent  citizens 
of  Cedar  Rapids  will  see,  even  in  this 
brief  summary,  chat  conditions  are  not 
what  they  ouf  ht  to  be,  nor  worthy  of 
the  eddcationhl  agencies  of  the  city — 
whose  duty  it  is  to  lead,  not  to  follow, 
in  matters  ol  taste.  The  little  round 
flower  bed  in  the  middle  of  a  close 
clipped  lawn  is  a  very  foolish  and  child- 
ish method  of  adornment.  And  if 
tliere  were  to  be  a  flower  bed,  why  fill 
it  with  geraniums  or  canna,  whose 
llowermg  period  is  after  school  has 
closed  ?  But  a  great  deal  better  effect, 
and  at  less  annual  cost,  can  be  secured, 
since  the  yards  have  separate  play- 
grounds, by  taking  out  the  bed  alto- 
gether, securing  a  stretch  of  lawn 
where  the  waving  branches  of  the  trees 
cast    flickering    shadows    unbroken    by 


any  incongruous  splash.  And  then,  for 
a  more  positive  adornment,  put  shrubs 
close  around  the  building,  wedding  wall 
to  ground  and  breaking  the  hard,  sharp 
angle  that  they  form.  And  fill  in  the 
shrubs  in  masses,  at  corners  and  an- 
gles— the  barberry,  whose  bright  ber- 
ries will  cling  all  winter  and  leaves 
turn  brilliant  in  the  fall;  the  bridal 
wreath,  that  will  be  gay  in  spring;  the 
lilac,  that  will  scent  the  air  with 
springtime  fragrance;  the  sumac,  that 
will  be  gorgeous  background  in  the 
autumn,  and  the  wild  rose  which  with 
delicate  bloom  will  usher  in  commence- 
ment days.  And  these  are  only  a  be- 
ginnin;?,  for  there  are  many  perennials 
to  choose  from.  The  sumac  and  the 
roses  the  children  can  get  themselves 
in  the  country,  and  doing  their  own 
planting  (under  direction)  they  will 
feel  thereafter  special  interest  in  the 
grounds  and  incidentally  learn  many  a 
useful  lesson.  Against  the  bare  brick 
school  walls  plant  vines.  Let  there  be 
no  gas  pipe  railings,  as  at  the  Jack- 
son school,  for  shrubs  strategically 
placed  will  attain  the  same  result  at 
less  cost  and  with  far  greater  comeli- 
ness. As  for  the  concrete  name  on  the 
terrace  at  the  Polk  school,  that  is  an 
unspeakable  barbarism,  unworthy  of 
such  a  school. 

3.  The  Park.s — With  respect  to  these 
there  is  so  much  to  be  said  that  no 
other  advice  can  be  of  such  value  as 
the  urgent  appeal  that  before  any  fur- 
ther constructive  work  goes  forward  in 
them,  a  definite  landscape  plan  be  ob- 
tained for  every  one,  however  small.  I 
shall  make  only  a  few  of  the  more  ob- 
vious suggestions — as  to  things  that 
can  be  done  now  and  done  easily  and 
that  w'll  be  effective.  These  and  many 
other  points  would  be  covered  in  the 
plans  of  the  professional  landscape  de- 
signer who,  as  a  measure  of  actual 
economy,  should  be  employed.  The 
parks  are  of  such  importance  and  ex- 
tent that  they  are  deserving  of  good 
development.  A  comparatively  low  an- 
nual salary  would  put  at  your  service 
— for  consultation  at  any  time  on  any 
point,  the  experience,  taste  and  knowl- 
edge of  a  man  who  has  made  park  de- 
velopment his  life  study. 

Referring  to  my  notes,  I  find  that 
Greene  Square  receives  a  large  share 
of  attention.  This  is  as  it  should  be, 
for  its  central  location,  its  intensive 
use,  its  conspicuousness  to  the  travel- 
ers who  pass  through  Cedar  Rapids,  re- 
quire that  it  be  particularly  well  de- 
veloped. I  suggest  for  its  further  im- 
provement that  a  hedge  be  planted  on 
the  railroad  side.  This  will  not  only 
promote  safety,  but  will  be  a  distinct 
aesthetic  addition.  We  shall  then  have 
a  park  and  a  railroad,  not  a  park  spoil- 
ed by  a  railroad  running  through  it. 
The  Square  will  be  clearly  defined,  and 


looking  west  in  it  the  eye  will  rest  on 
the  grateful  green  of  the  framing  hedge 
rather  than  on  dreary,  hot  and  cindered 
tracks.  The  entrances— I  illustrate 
one  of  those  from  Third  avenue — need 
to  be  defined.  A  group  of  low  shrubs 
on  either  side  of  the  path  would  do 
this  well,  and  would  shut  out  of  the 
park-picture  the  dusty  street.  The 
grave-like  mound,  which  here  bears  the 
city's  name  as  in  other  parks  it  bears 
the  park's  name,  ought  to  be  taken  out 
of  every  park.  It  is  thoroughly  bad; 
and  in  this  particular  case  I  cannot 
conceive  why  there  should  be  a  wish  to 
have  opposite  the  station  a  big  grave 
with  the  words  "Cedar  Rapids"  on  it,  as 
if  the  town  were  dead.  I  think  the  city 
very  much  alive,  and  the  grave  slan- 
ders it  to  every  traveler.  Of  the  stone 
house,  to  be  vine  covered,  I  shall  ven- 
ture to  say  little.  In  Europe,  Asia  and 
America,  I  never  have  seen  its  like 
before.  But  surely  it  violates  all  the 
principles  of  art,  for  it  is  not  sincere — 
since  the  design  is  that  it  shall  appear 
what  it  is  not;  it  is  not  appropriate, 
and  it  is  not  in  harmony  with  its  sur- 
roundings. The  shrubs  that  are  plant- 
ed scatteringly  should  be  massed  in 
groups,  so  obtaining  an  effect  of  open 
lawn  that,  without  sacrifice  of  color, 
will  nave  more  of  restfulness.  The 
fact  that  diagonal  paths  do  not  cut  the 
park  in  quarters  makes  this  effect  the 
more  easily  obtainable  and  satisfac- 
tory. With  these  small  changes, 
Greene  Squ9,re  would  do  credit  to  the 
city. 

In  Bever  park  there  is  too  much 
shade.  There  is  such  sameness  in  the 
thinned  woods  effect  that  the  contrast 
of  a  sunny  hillside,  meadow,  or  other 
bi'oad  open  space,  would  be  welcome. 
The  large  natural  enclosures  that  con- 
tain some  of  the  animals  are  good,  but 
the  animal  house  is  a  hideous  old  barn 
that,  like  a  temporary  looking  drinking 
trough  on  one  of  the  drives,  ought  not 
to  remain  there  for  a  day.  The  fact  is, 
there  is  need  of  spending  a  good  deal 
of  money  in  Bever  and  the  other  parks. 
It  would  be  worth  while  for  the  com- 
munity to  be  really  generous  for  two 
or  three  years,  until  the  parks  have 
been  more  adequately  developed.  * 

With  respect  to  the  curbs  on  the 
park  driveways,  there  are  occasions 
where  a  curb  is  really  necessary.  On 
roads,  in  natural  parks,  when  it  can 
be  omitted  I  would  much  rather  have 
it  omitted.  But  if  it  is  used,  it  should 
be  used  consistently — that  is,  it  stands 
for  formalism,  elaborateness  and  ex- 
pensiveness  of  development.  It  should 
separate    perfect  roads     from      shaven 

*  The  old  frame  animal  house  re- 
ferred to  has  since  been  replaced  by 
neat  and  permanent  stone,  concrete 
and   steel   animal   dens. 


lawns;  ii  should  never  go  a  little  way 
as  in  Bever  park,  and  then  arbitrarily 
stop,  the  drive  becoming  a  simple  dirt 
road  in  the  woods.  The  cement  curb 
is,  in  short,  an  intrusion  in  a  natural 
park — where  the  whole  desire  is  to  get 
away  from  city  effects.  When  it  is  used 
for  onlv  a  few  hundred  feet  at  the  en- 
trance, it  is  also  a  little  hypocritical. 

The  Liever  avenue  entrance  to  the 
park,  as  that  used  by  street  car  patrons, 
is  of  much  more  importance  than  is 
suggested  by  its  present  development. 
The  wire  fence  should  come  down  here, 
and  th-3  boundary  be  made  by  a  close 
growth  of  shrubberj'.  The  entrance, 
too,  should  be  defined  by  planting.  The 
conditions  at  the  Grand  avenue  entrance 
are  not  quite  as  bad,  but  the  posts 
should  come  out.  The  same  criticisms 
apply  in  a  general  way  at  Ellis  park, 
where  height  is  particularly  needed  at 
the  entrance;  and  of  both  these  parks 
and  of  Oireene  Square  I  may  say — with 
respect  to  the  spider-legged  stone  shel- 
ters— that  the  debate  which  seems  to 
be  publicly  going  on,  regarding  the  use 
of  stone  in  this  way,  misses  the  point 
that  is  really  at  issue.  The  trouble  is 
with  the  design,  not  with  the  material. 
For  Riverside  park  I  approve  and  urge 
the  carrying  out  of  the  wise  plans  made 
by  a  previous  park  commission,  to  in- 
stall bathing  opportunities  and  to  de- 
velop athletic  features  in  a  portion  of 
the  tract. 

With  regard  to  the  many  small  parks, 
I  must  speak  in  pretty  general  terms — ■ 
so  long  is  this  report  becoming.  I  have 
urged  that  landscape  designs  be  se- 
cured tor  these.  Their  only  purpose  is 
to  be  little  oases  of  beauty,  and  if  they 
fail  in  that  they  are  no  use  at  all. 
Huston  is  one  of  the  best,  but  there 
are  some  scattered  shrubs  that  seem 
to  have  wandered  from  the  fold  and 
need  to  be  called  back;  a  few  canna 
have  been  dropped  hit  or  miss  around 
the  fountain;  and  the  rectangular 
flower  bed  against  the  shrubbery  at  the 
west  end  is  an  incongruous  develop- 
ment. Redmond  park,  when  I  saw  it, 
was  still  in  process;  but  there  were 
like  general  objections.  Clearly  a  care- 
fully thought  out,  artistic  design  would 
help  these  small  parks.  As  to  Whit- 
tam,  there  is  nothing  attractive  about 
the  square  as  it  now  is.  I  was  not  sur- 
prised always  to  find  it  well  nigh  de- 
serted— even  by  the  children  whom 
there  had  evidently  been  some  attempt 
to  entice.  A  hedge  along  the  north- 
west side,  and  a  screening  of  the  ugly 
shed  at  the  southwest  corner  by  a 
close  row  of  poplars  would  help  a  lit- 
tle. With  regard  to  the  children  it 
should  be  remembered  that  even  more 
necessary  than  apparatus  is  wise  di- 
rection. Given  this,  a  playground  may 
become  immensely  popular  with  no  ap- 
paratus at  all. 


4.  I  come  now  to  the  two  great  scars. 
These  are  the  gash  that  the  railroads 
make  through  tlie  city,  and  the  dilap- 
idated island  in  its  very  center. 

As  to  the  railroads,  there  are  many 
other  things  to  consider  tlian  appear- 
ance. I  shall  simply  utter  a  word  of 
caution  regarding  a  proposal  that  the 
railroads  be  taken  from  Fourth  street 
and  given  a  right-of-way  along  the 
river.  The  brave  and  inspiring  story 
of  what  the  people  of  Springfield,  Mass., 
have  done,  in  lately  buying  back  at  a 
cost  of  a  million  dollars — much  of  it 
raised  by  popular  subscription — the 
river  bank  that  had  been  sold  to  the 
railroads,  should  be  a  warning  to  Ce- 
dar Rapids.  Before  any  such  deal  is 
made  as  has  been  suggested,  that 
Springfield  story  should  be  studied. 
There  may  further  be  consideration 
that  to  put  the  railroads  on  the  river 
edge  would  be  to  abandon  all  idea  of 
beautifying  the  island,  to  give  up  the 
riverside  parks  and  drives  of  which  we 
have  tliought,  to  make  Cedar  Rapids  a 
thoroughly  commonplace  town,  illus- 
trating the  most  familiar  fault  of 
American  cities,  instead  of  one  of  dis- 
tinctive beauty,  from  which  they  could 
learn  lessons;  and  hopelessly  to  sep- 
arate east  side  and  west.  For  no  one 
who  did  not  absolutely  have  to  do  so 
would  cross  from  one  side  to  the  other, 
if  to  the  break  made  by  the  river  there 
were  added  the  necessity  of  crossing 
over  the  tracks  of  several  noisy,  dirty 
railroad  lines.  The  west  side  would 
develop  its  own  stores  and  business, 
and  the  communities  would  soon  be- 
come distinct. 

With  regard  to  the  fear  that  eleva- 
tion of  the  tracks  would  mean  a  scar 
across  the  city,  it  might  be  answered 
that  a  scar  is  better  than  a  gash — 
which  is  the  present  condition.  But  by 
requiring  the  use  of  stone  and  con- 
crete retaining  walls,  earth  filled,  there 
would  be  none  of  the  hideousness  or 
noise  of  the  usual  elevated  railroad; 
and  it  might  be  possible  to  carry  First 
avenue  at  least  above  the  tracks.  Fur- 
ther, a  distinct  barrier  between  a  city's 
business  and  residential  quarters  is  a 
good  thing  for  its  artistic  development 
and  the  attractiveness  of  life  in  it.  The 
plan  will  have,  of  course,  to  be  care- 
fully worked  out  by  engineers,  but  it 
seems  to  me  to  be  better  worth  look- 
ing into  than  the  suggestion  that  the 
riverbank  be  relinquished  to  the  rail- 
roads. 

As  to  the  island,  I  believe  that  here 
lies  Cedar  Rapids'  greatest  opportun- 
ity. It  presents  a  chance  to  convert  an 
eyesore  into  a  distinctive  and  splendid 
possession.  A  comparatively  small 
amount  of  money  will  buy  the  island, 
for  the  very  isolation  that  so  increases 
its  value  for  park  and  public  building 
purposes   decreases   its   availability   for 


business;  and  we  have  to  reflect  that 
with  the  money  which  would  buy  it  we 
are  obtaining — in  the  very  center  of  a 
large  and  growing  city — a  tract  some 
1,200  feet  in  length  and  nearly  300  in 
average  width,  its  light  protected  on 
all  sides,  danger  from  spreading  fires 
absolutely  eliminated  and  its  borders 
so  gloriously  secured  that  there  never 
would  be  danger  of  private  construc- 
tion overshadowing  and  dwarfing  what 
the  municipality  may  determine  to  put 
here.  We  would  be  giving  to  Cedar 
Rapids  a  chance  such  as  hardly  any 
other  city  in  the  world  has  ever  had  to_ 
create  a  civic  picture.  It  is  noteworthy, 
indeed,  that  as  this  is  written  there  is 
under  serious  consideration  in  Boston 
a  project  for  actually  constructing  an 
island  in  the  Charles  river,  so  that  at 
vast  expense  Boston  may  secure  some 
such  opportunity  as  nature  has  giv- 
en to  Cedar  Rapids.  An  expert's  argu- 
ment on  the  project  contains  these 
words:  "Buildings  here  would  have 
the  great  advantage  of  being  seen  from 
a  considerable  distance.  They  would 
acquire  dignity  through  a  certain  aloof- 
ness. Such  an  island,  with  domes  and 
towers  of  public  buildings  rising  above 
the  trees,  would  be  almost  unique  In 
the  line  of  civic  beauty,  whether  in  the 
old  world  or  in  the  new."  It  does  not 
seem  to  me  advisable  to  abandon  such 
an  opportunity  in  Cedar  Rapids,  even 
though,  as  substitute,  the  public  build- 
ings were  to  be  grouped  on  the  river 
bank,  by  joining  the  island  to  the  east 
side  mainland  as  was  once,  interesting- 
ly, proposed. 

A  sale  of  the  present  city  hall  site 
would  go  far  toward  the  purchase  of 
the  island.  To  buy  the  latter,  to  grade 
and  park  it,  to  erect  upon  it  a  civic 
center,  constructing  there  a  new  city 
hall,  a  court  house  worthy  of  the  coun- 
ty— of  which  Cedar  Rapids  would,  we 
may  be  sure,  promptly  become  the  seat 
— and  still  have  room  for  other  public 
buildings,  as  with  the  growth  of  the 
city  these  will  be  needed,  that  is  an 
ideal  to  work  toward  that  should  be  full 
of  insoiration  to  every  citizen.  Nor  is 
it  necessary  that  I  should  picture  how 
stunning  the  effect  would  be — new 
bridges  of  monumental  construction 
like  that  at  Second  avenue,  leading  to 
the  island;  its  present  broken,  shabby 
surface  graded  and  parked;  the  noble 
buildings  placed  on  the  long  axis,  fac- 
ing with  double  fronts  each  shore, 
malls  connecting  them  with  one  an- 
other. Indeed,  the  very  angle  at  which 
the  bridges  spring  from  the  mainland 
to  the  island  is  a  favoring  chance,  leav- 
ing available  locations  that  will  render 
the  buildings  visible  for  long  distances 
on  the  avenues.  Do  this,  since  it  so 
easily  can  be  done,  and  the  cities  of 
the  United  States  will  have  something 


to  learn  of  civic  effectiveness  from  the 
middle  West.  * 

I  have  written  a  long  report.  My  ex- 
cuse must  be  an  inspiring  subject. 
The  possibilities  that  lie  before  Cedar 
Rapids,  in  some  respects  unique,  are  so 
fine;  the  good  achievements  of  the  past 
in  the  building  of  the  city  so  cry  out 
for  worthy  supplementing  today;  the 
chances  to  do  much  at  little  cost;  the 
readiness  to  hear,  and  most  of  all  the 
interest  of  the  municipal  administra- 
tion— these  are  the  encouraging  factors 
that  make  one  paint  with  detail  and 
care  the  picture  of  the  Cedar  Rapids 
that  can  be  made,  and  will  be. 

In  a  history  of  the  city,  which  I  find 
in  the  official  program  of  its  fiftieth  an- 
niversary, there  are  these  words:  "This 
city  represents  no  haphazard  accidental 
growth.  It  was  planned  for  from  the 
beginning,  and  became  an  article  of 
faith  for  men  in  control  of  affairs. 
While  others  were  satisfied  with  words 
and  promises,  the  men  responsible  for 
the  life  of  Cedar  Rapids  were  insistent 
upon  deeds  and  materialization  of  pro- 
jects. To  gain  the  ends  desired,  their 
time  and  means  were  spent,  and  per- 
sonal and  community  credit  pledged." 
Events  have  justified  the  early  faith, 
have  rewarded  the  early  courage.  If, 
with  that  stimulus,  there  is  the  same 
spirit  today,  when  Iowa  has  become  one 
of  the  richest  of  commonwealths,  this 
report  on  what  Cedar  Rapids  can  do 
will  become  at  once  the  story  of  its 
achievement — the  chart  of  its  voyaging 
to  a  higher  destiny.  The  program  as 
outlined,  though  generous  in  results, 
is  without  any  visionary  quality.  It  is 
practical,  simple,  easy  to  accomplish 
step  by  step.  For  their  own  credit,  to 
their  own  advantage,  the  citizens  must 
require  its  carrying  out. 

Respectfully  submitted, 
CHARLES  MULFORD  ROBINSON. 

July  10,  1908. 


*  Since  Mr.  Robinson's  visit  the  city  has  ac- 
quired, by  purchase  and  condemnation,  the 
island  for  park  and  public  building  purposes. 
The  old  city  hall  site  has  been  sold,  and  as  this 
report  goes  to  the  printer,  the  city  is  making 
alterations  in  certain  of  the  buildings  on  the 
island  for  temporary  public  use.  The  city 
offices  will  be  moved  to  the  island  on  or  about 
January  15,  1909. 


'"^     OF  THE  \ 


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